This article by a similar group makes a somewhat startling conclusion, but one which I had noticed in the clinic and thought it was spurious. Only in male participants, TVNS was superior to sham and placebo conditions in the reduction
The author was kind enough to send me a copy of the full paper. The upshot was that there was no statistically significant reduction at 28 days, but there was at 20 weeks. The patients are getting hours of stim
I met Usichenko in Barcelona at a conference there. I was giving a talk and he was in the audience. I wish I had been able to spend a bit more time with him. He seems interested in the same
It seems we’re finding uses for TAVNS everywhere! They call it “tickling” which I think is great marketing. Come to think of it, I should be doing more of it for myself, in addition to acupuncture… I’m adding an update
In going through previous blog posts concerning TAVNS, I came across this recent post about a company called Dyansys. Their device incorporates my dream project of having an HRV device attached to a peripheral stim device. There are aspects of
I’m linking to this article on inflammation which I’ve covered many times in the blog, in hopes that a different writer might make it easier to understand for my readers why I’m so preoccupied with this topic! According to the
I’m linking to this abstract for reference. I don’t have access to the actual article, but it reinforces the increasing interest in TAVNS. J Clin Neurophysiol. 2019 Nov;36(6):437-442. doi: 10.1097/WNP.0000000000000576. Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation. Ellrich J1. Author information 1
I can’t say enough about this journal article. It clearly lays out the physiology and brain anatomy involved in TAVNS with a focus on depression. But it also discusses the impact of inflammation, microbiota, and even auricular acupuncture. It is
“Our results suggest that taVNS at 1 Hz can significantly modulate activity/connectivity of brain regions associated with the vagus nerve central pathway and pain modulation system, which may shed light on the neural mechanisms underlying taVNS treatment of migraine.” This study
This article suggests that the autonomic dysfunction found in patients with depression can lead to impaired cardiovascular function. They suggest HRV as an adjunct diagnostic tool in this situation. SSRI’s or anti-depressants may change the patient’s mental outlook, but do
